QUICK REVIEW: Steve Jobs

Good day to you ladies and gents, time for another film review and today I’ll be talking about Steve Jobs. This film has had quite the interesting tale when it comes to the development stages of production with the changes in actors and directors, so after everything got confirmed and ironed out I just had to see how this film would turn out.

The story can be described as the following:

“Steve Jobs takes us behind the scenes of the digital revolution, to paint a portrait of the man at its epicenter. The story unfolds backstage at three iconic product launches, ending in 1998 with the unveiling of the iMac.”

The story was this film was pretty fascinating tale. The film chronicles three major points in the life of Steve Jobs; 1984, 88 and 98 giving us a look at the man behind the magic, showing his vision for Apple and his other business ventures, but also showing his complicated family life and the problematic relationships he had with his coworkers too. I really enjoyed the amount of drama, emotion and tension this film was able to produce from mainly just characters talking. Whether they were arguments or casual conversations, there were some really wonderfully written scenes and bits of dialogue, oh and I was not expecting the film to be as humourous as it was as well. Now with this being a biopic there is only so much of this that can be taken as truth and at several points I could see certain elements that were played up for the dramatization of film, but it wasn’t too bad that it bothered me. If I had any issues with the film it would be related to the fact this film only highlights the early days of Jobs’ career and didn’t highlight some of the significant contributions he brought to Apple later down the line or how some plot/character elements are never fully explored or concluded. That being said the film did have to focus on specific periods of time or this film would have gone on forever.

When it comes to the performances all of the cast do such excellent jobs in their roles. Let’s start with Michael Fassbender who was just magnetic and intense as Steve Jobs. This film definitely paints Jobs in a specific light, he’s this visionary, dedicated and hard-working individual who strives for perfection, but he’s also a douchebag to anyone who does things to impede his progress. Jobs for the most part is strategic, mean, manipulative, selfish, overconfident and is the worst person to be on the wrong side of as he’s verbally abusive to everyone when shit hits he fan. But behind it all there is a man with a heart and long-term issues which few people know about and Fassbender did such a fantastic job at bringing the man to life. Just as impressive was Kate Winslet as Joanna Hoffman, this woman was Jobs’ number two, she did everything for him and had to deal with so much negativity from the man, and yet was the only one who could stand up to him and give him a reality check. Winslet was so good in this role and I thought she handled her accent well too.

Seth Rogen continues to surprise me as he did well as Steve Wozniak, this character had an interesting history with Jobs and it was great to see how that played out, and Rogen while I don’t care for him in his comedies seems to be far more engaging here. Jeff Daniels was also great as John Sculley, Michael Stuhlbarg was almost unrecognizable to me as Andy Hertzfeld and I loved his performance as he was so vulnerable and yet likeable as one of the core members of Apple who had quite the adventure with Jobs from the early days up until the end of this film. I also liked Katherine Waterston as Chrisann Brennan, the three actresses that played Lisa Brennen-Jobs (Perla Haney-Jardine, Ripley Sobo, and Makenzie Moss) and Sarah Snook as Andrea “Andy” Cunningham.

So in conclusion Steve Jobs was an entertaining and dramatic film with terrific performances and really good dialogue. I enjoyed the film far more than I thought I would, but I am glad that I saw it and it was one of the better biopics I’ve seen in recent times. While there were a few things I would have changed or would like to have seen more of, in the end it was engaging where it needed to be.

Rating: 8/10

So have you seen Steve Jobs and if so what did you think of it? Please be sure to comment below and I’ll see you on the next film review, laters! 😀

 

The Martian Review (SPOILER FREE)

Good day to you ladies and gentlemen, time for another film review and today I’ll be talking about The Martian. This is another film that’s been on my 2015 anticipated list, even when there was no footage, I had hope for the film considering that it had an interesting premise, Ridley Scott was directing and it featured Matt Damon. And after the trailers and early positive word of mouth I was excited to see this. So after seeing an early screening at Cineworld yesterday I’m ready to pass judgement!

The story can be described as the following:

“When a mission to Mars goes wrong for a group of team of astronauts, they escape, however one of their members, Mark Watney is left behind and presumed dead. With limited resources and a harsh environment to live in, Watney must fight for survival while communicating with NASA, other scientists and his crewmates on a rescue plan.”

I thought the story was really good. This is another film that focuses on survival, human ingenuity, endurance and spirit. I like how there was moral, ethical and logical dilemma’s for not only Mark, but his crewmates and the people at NASA as well, there wasn’t an easy way of doing things and for a lot of the choices that some of these characters made, there’d be sacrifices or negative consequences involved. I also appreciated the realism, the scientific talk and unpredictable nature of space, the Mars environment and spacecraft equipment. The film was also a lot funnier than I expected and I think it really helped ease the loneliness and dread. While this isn’t a brilliant or unique adventure, it is a solid and well-made film from director Ridley Scott, there is a sense of confidence and intelligence with Scott’s direction and I liked that aspect a lot.

The cast did such great work with their performances, but the main star is Matt Damon as Mark Watney. This is a character who is smart and courageous, but also has to deal with the fact that death is constantly present and could take him at any moment. Damon is a really great actor and I think a lot of people forget that, but here is allowed to be dramatic, charming, funny, frustrated and so much more, and a lot of the time he has to act alone, yet pretend like there is someone is watching and he pulls that off fairly well.

As for the people down on Earth I really liked Jeff Daniels as Teddy Sanders, he was an interesting character because he is a good person, but he also has to think of things from a business perspective and his decisions puts him at odds with his other staff members. Kristen Wiig as Annie Montrose did pretty well and I think I think I liked her performance a lot mainly because it was the first time I’ve seen her in a serious role. Chiwetel Ejiofor as usual turns in a great performance Vincent Kapoor and Sean Bean was good as Mitch Henderson too.  Mackenzie Davis was cute and good in her role as Mindy Park, Benedict Wong was quite good as Bruce Ng and Donald Glover’s appearance as Rich Purnell was strange, humourous and entertaining for sure. As for the space-based characters, Jessica Chastain did well with her material as Melissa Lewis, she’s the most developed and important of the crew and has a lot of important decisions to make too. Michael Peña as Rick Martinez was also good, he had some humourous moments and good banter with Mark. Kate Mara was also good as Beth Johanssen, I also liked my man Sebastian Stan as Chris Beck and Aksel Hennie as Alex Vogel was good but a little forgettable. Together these characters had good chemistry and felt like a good team of individuals who cared about their mission but also for each other and Mark.

When it comes to the presentation it was really good. Visually this was a great experience. Spaced-based sci-fi films have been getting better with their special effects over the last few years with Prometheus, Guardians of the Galaxy and Gravity showing more and more impressive their art direction, realism and level of detail, and this film is no different. The Martian has wonderful cinematography, editing and sound design too. I was just stunned by the scenery of Mars, all the shots on the planet were gorgeous and the scenes in space were also very beautiful with great lighting and clarity. The film score by Harry Gregson-Williams was also quite good, William’s soundtracks tend to be a little hit and miss for me, but here he did a good job creating music that really amplified the action on-screen and it had many great moments elevating the emotional scenes.

In conclusion The Martian is a return to form for Ridley Scott, offering up a thrilling and dramatic story, great performances and brilliant production value. While I wouldn’t say it blew me away, it is definitely on the higher end of films I’ve seen post-summer season and in 2015 in general.

Rating: 8/10

So what did you think of The Martian? Whatever your thoughts are be sure to drop them below and let me know. Until the next time, see ya later! 😀

 

Dumb and Dumber To Trailer #1 Review

Howdy ladies and gents and welcome to a new trailer review. It feels like an eternity since I wrote about something film-related on this blog, but now I’m ready to talk about a new trailer from a film I’m interested in seeing later on this year; Dumb and Dumber To.

Check out the trailer below:

So my first thoughts after seeing this trailer? This looks alright.

Now I don’t care much for comedy films (most people who read this blog will know that already), that being said, I will always check a film out if it has a cast I’m interested in or plays on my nostalgia, and this film does both.

So from what I understand in the trailer, the story involves Harry and Lloyd finding out that Harry has a long-lost daughter and they wish to find her, but I don’t think the trailer said why. We also see that Lloyd has the hots for Harry’s kid which is weird, but understandable and there are going to be a lot of lengths gone to in order to find this girl.

Watching the trailer for Dumb and Dumber To is like going in a time machine back to the 90’s, the jokes and actions of Harry and Lloyd seem so stupid and juvenile, but there’s something great about it went its them who’s doing it rather than other people. Straight from the beginning you’re treated to some insane, Lloyd’s been in a mental home and Harry’s been visiting him for almost 20 years but them you find out that Harry’s been faking the entire time and what does Harry think? He’s thinks its awesome. What the heck man? Its stupid stuff like that which makes these two so funny.

Other highlights include Harry and Lloyd setting a man on fire after setting off fireworks in his bedroom, chilling in the middle of the highway with their car, the camouflaged man in front of the vending machine and the phone call where Harry tries to call his daughter and Lloyd thinks he’s getting a call from his dead dad. It’s so stupid but really fun at the same time. But the best bit is at the end with the old woman and Lloyd’s hand getting stuck in her nether regions, that was nasty but funny too.

Now this trailer isn’t perfect, even though I have no major faults with it, I still feel its important to highlight the fact that this film is comedy which has story ideas and jokes we’ve seen or heard before and just because the trailer is funny, doesn’t mean the same rules apply to a whole film. That being said I’m liking the way this is so far, I’m just being cautiously optimistic.

In conclusion this looks like it could be a lot of fun. It is more of the same crazy, stupid and over-the-top jokes and antics from the 90’s but it seems to fit in with today’s type of comedies too. Obviously this film could still bomb heavily but it does look a lot better than I was expecting and just seeing Jeff Daniels and Jim Carrey back together as these characters just makes wanna see the film. If the film is half as good as this trailer then it will be worth a watch in my opinion.

So what did you think of the first trailer for Dumb and Dumber To? Be sure to comment below and I’ll see ya later?